Earlier Job expressed his desire to speak directly with God (Job 9:32-35; 13:18-22), and this astonished both the friends (Job 22:3-4) and Elihu. How could a man appear before God and live (Exodus 33:20). Elihu attempts to show Job the incongruity of his desire. The small group seems to be in the middle of a storm, and that storm appears to be a hurricane. The bright light of the ‘eye’ of the storm is suddenly at hand, and the men have trouble adjusting to the sudden brightness of the sun. Elihu continues, saying if a man is unable to behold the bright light of the sky, after the wind had cleared away the dark clouds (Job 37:21), how would one ever be able to behold the glory of God, which far surpasses the brightness of the sun exposed in the eye of the hurricane?
Continuing to describe the storm, whose thunders had melted the heart of Elihu (Job 37:1), Elihu describes the opening in the sky to the north of their position, and it shines out like the dazzling brightness of polished gold (Job 37:22). The Lord is thought to reside in the north (Isaiah 14:13), so Elihu points to the example in the opening of the heavens, as though it were a symbol of the approach of God, coming in terrible majesty. Who could stand before such a one, when it is so difficult to stand in place during such a terrible storm like the tempest/hurricane they were experiencing at that moment?
It is difficult to understand today, how the ancients perceived Almighty God. Remembering that men have a tendency to wander away from God (Romans 1:21-23), and, as they do, the Lord grants them their desires, which seem to indicate that they do not wish to know him at all (Romans 1:28). In Eden, mankind had unbroken fellowship with God, but all that faded away, being replaced with men’s ideas of what God was like. When they knew him, they didn’t treasure up such knowledge, but chose to forget God entirely (Romans 1:21-23, 28). So, by the time we get to Job, the dominant worldview is: God rewards good behavior and judges bad behavior. However, beyond this, there doesn’t seem to be much more.
For the ancients, God doesn’t seem to be a person one could approach or draw near to. Does anyone conceive that God is a person at all, or is he as some scientists believe today? Many scientists conclude God is an impersonal, perhaps unliving, power that acts according to logical or lawful principles, creating and destroying etc. but perhaps not even aware of man’s troubles. Thus, it would be illogical to communicate with or pray to him. What kind of God did Job and the friends fit into their shared worldview?
Whatever the case may be, Elihu concludes that the Almighty cannot be known. God is simply too excellent in power and overflowing in wise judgment. Such a one could never oppress anyone (Job 37:23). For him to oppress men, as Job seems to conclude he does, is completely foreign to the then present understanding or worldview of God, truth, reality. In other words, the present shared worldview, which Job has challenged, is, nevertheless, the accepted truth and most logical understanding of reality.
Therefore, it becomes the responsibility of men to fear God, because God is God and will do as he pleases (Job 37:24). His purposes are not to be understood by men (verse-23), so it is better that men simply accept what God does without questioning him. Moreover, God doesn’t owe men an explanation for his behavior. Therefore, it illogical for Job to seek such an explanation. Elihu claims that such a God that he describes simply would not comply with anyone interrogating him. God is someone who is far off, and he cannot be approached (cp. Ephesians 2:7).
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